Past
It is difficult to believe sometimes that just 50 years ago, the Qabal were on the verge of extinction. Outlawed by the repressive Caliph after their aborted rebellion the Qabal hung on to the edge of society. Hidden by those who loved them or hated the Caliph they fought a shadow war for nearly 300 years. Hundreds fell, and hundreds more took their place in the fight. The Masters of the Seal, a group meant to create a redundant leadership role and reduce the risk of one member being mind-controlled and destroying the Qabal from the inside was founded. Hekau, the Senpet born leader of the Qabal during this time had been a powerful and wise sahir who did a great deal strengthen the Qabal and prepare it for the trials ahead. During the Awakening the Qabal brought what power they still had to bear against the legions of the Jinn Lord Kaleel. Many of their greatest were lost in the fighting however. Some, during the Awakening itself, erupted into their true Jinn forms. Others were lost in the fighting or ascended into the heavens to battle Khayel itself and were never heard from again.
After the dust had settled, the Qabal found it’s efforts well rewarded. The new Caliph rescinded the ban on magical practice and the Qabal came out of hiding to find dozens of willing students at their doorstep. After centuries in the shadows however, the light was painful to the Qabal and their initial paranoia threatened to scare many away. Thankfully the efforts of Zahir al-Kufa, the Head of the Qabal at that time turned matters around quickly and opened their doors to any new student. This move angered many of the Masters of the Seal, which had six members at the time but they lacked the numbers necessary to overthrow Zahir. Two of them supported his move and stopped the others from acting. Zahir considered the matter settled, but many of the Masters did not. A decade later one of those who supported Zahir found his end at an Assassin’s blade and the Masters had the numbers necessary to overthrow Zahir.
The dismissal of Zahir was met with outrage by the many new students of the Qabal, and celebrations by many of it’s older membership. The Masters expected to bring one of their own number into the position of master but were thwarted by something that none of them had expected. Amru al-Zaqra, the adopted child of Hekau, had grown older, wiser, and much more powerful. She was young and had new ideas which was enough to bring her a great deal of support from the younger Qabalists and the Old Guard remembered her father fondly and refused to challenge her when she made her claim for leadership.
Present
Amru faced little competition gaining control of the Qabal, but she faced fierce opposition as soon as she was in power. The Masters of the Seal turned on her as she continued the policies of Zahir. Zahir himself however had rejoined the Masters and managed to thwart any attempts to overthrow her by doing so. Conflict between Zahir and Jalila, and Faris, Khalida, and Nazih was a fairly common occurrence. Ten years ago the Masters of the Seal shifted again as a new master, Hani, was added to the collective and Nazih, already an ancient man, retired. The loss of Nazih and Hani’s relative moderate stance on matters left the Masters divided and allowed Amru to do what she felt needed to be done. Several new measures were passed which opened the Qabal to new membership and forced Magi to begin giving lectures to new students in the House of Astronomy.
A sense of imminent climax began to filter through the Qabal as the older generation began to grow more and more fearful as the majority of their students did not have the same ideas and worries that they did not go about things with the same caution that they did. Further trouble started to brew as rumors of plans to revise the council came out. Amru, for her part, did little to hide her plans to stabilize the Masters with five permanent positions, to keep current members from holding back on new applicants, and a more concrete definition of the powers of the Masters of the Seal. The traditionalist masters were outraged by what they felt was a betrayal of 300 years of tradition at the erosion of their power base. The Progressivists on the other hands supported the move and Hani was left as the deciding vote. The stalemate continued for a full year before it was broken.
In the middle of the night when assassins attacked Zahir and Jalila in their homes. Zahir managed to kill his assailant, sinking into the ground while he struggled with his assailant. A few minutes later, only Zahir came back up. Jalila was not as lucky. Zahir raged and fumed and claimed that the Traditionalists had tried to win the votes they needed through assassination. The Traditionalists, appalled by this accusation, replied that Zahir was a madman who saw plots in every corner. Still, the death of Jalila was enough and talk of revising the Masters was put off once again.
Tensions within the Qabal have quieted down at least some in more recent months. Amru’s stepping in against Zahir and Faris made her few friends among the masters, but it helped to ease tensions, at least in the immediate future. Unknown to most, it was the Qabal that collected the Manuscript and has been spending quite a bit of time studying the information within, discovering several lost caches of not only gold and jewels but of information and artifacts which the Qabal are even now secretly beginning to excavate. It will be years perhaps until any significant gains are made from the digs, but already one project got enough interest from Faris to have him leave the city, heading into the Western Wastes to personally lead a dig. His leaving the city shifted the Masters of the Seal enough to finally set a limit on how many Masters there would be and what their political power was, which makes many wonder what was so important out in the desert for him to investigate.
Future
The search for a new Master to fill out the ranks has begun, but was delayed by the bloodshed seen in the city. Several names have come to the forefront, but none have been voted on yet by the remaining members of the Masters, though with more Progressivists in the council than Traditionalists, it is not hard to see where the next Master’s loyalties will lie. More curious however is Faris’ trip out to the Western Wastes, and why he felt it was necessary to rip several of the pages out of the Manuscript to take with him.
Leaders
Head Qabalist
Amru is not the young woman she used to be, though she is younger than all of those in the Masters by far. In her fifties now, Amru has continued to show an amazing talent for the arts of a Sahir. She has dedicated herself to magic, and can often be found in the School of Astronomy, doing research. She has already taken Hakim’s Seal in directions that no one has since the Awakening and there are whispers that though she does her best to hide it, she could defeat any of the Masters in a duel, though she has yet to be allowed to join their esteemed numbers.
Amru does not seem to upset by the matter, though the steady internal conflict has begun to strain her composure. In the face of the mounting resistance, her temper has begun to get shorter and shorter. Her victory of finally putting some limitations on the Masters has eased her temper somewhat, though, and Faris’ leaving the city has proven to be a most unexpected boon for the woman.
Now Amru’s most pressing matter is finding a new Master to fill in the fifth spot. She, obviously, wants to find a fifth who will back her progressives, though she faces resistance from Master Khalida, she believes she can easily overcome such trifles.
Masters of the Seal Master
Faris ibn Irfan is a self made man. His father was a merchant of little consequence, not even worth bringing into the Dahabi fold. In the streets, he learned how to be sneaky, he learned how to be cautious, and he learned how to make threats disappear. When he was fourteen he was discovered by the underground Qabalist movement where he showed an aptitude for working Hakhim’s Seal. Faris quickly worked his way up the ranks and eventually joined the Masters of the Seal.
The undisputed head of the Traditionalist faction, Faris has preached caution and exact planning, as opposed to what he feels is the off-the-cuff improvisation that Progressivists prefer. Faris has always done what he thought was necessary to keep the Qabal safe, even if that meant being rather underhanded to protect it from itself. Still, Faris is becoming an ancient man now and his memory and wit is not what it used to be. He has refused to retire from his position though, terrified at what may become of the Qabal if he is no longer there to steer them.
After the Qabal took the Manuscript, Faris took the greatest interest in it, making certain it was locked away from all but the Masters and the Head of the Qabal. He has uncovered many of its secrets, including caches of artifacts that have been lost for centuries. Curiously though, several pages are missing from the manuscript. Pages that Faris claims to know nothing about.
Master
Zahir al-Kufa is an old man who has grown older from his constant struggles against his own faction. Originally from one of the satellite city-states that surround Medinaat al-Salaam. Kufa is one of the larger cities, as it is likewise situated on the Nahr’umar river. For the last forty years Zahir has fought as one of the few Progressivist leaders and it has started to fray on his condition. Since the attempt on his life, Zahir has grown more and more paranoid, seeing knives in every shadow and every cryptic term as a veiled threat to his life. Rumors have it that he maintains half a dozen defensive spells on his person at any given time, and that his home is currently so warded against threats that even his servants can no longer get in.
Zahir’s growing arguments with Faris have come near to the point of blows several times and only the calm council of the rest of the masters and Amru herself have kept the two from duelling over the matter. Few doubt it would end in the death of one, or both, of the Masters. A situation which would no doubt get this disagreement over the future of the Qabal to come to blows.
With his duel cancelled by Amru, Zahir’s paranoia has only gotten worse. Fearing not only the Traditionalists but now even some Progressives, Zahir has drifted away from everyone he once called friend. He feels that Amru betrayed him by stepping in and stopping his duel with a known murderer, he does not trust that Faris spends so much time in the libraries. Nor does he trust any of the other Masters.
Master
Khalida bint Fawzi is in a position that no one would have expected 30 years ago. The daughter in a family that had made a tradition of joining the City Guard, while she had been growing up she had never shown any true interest in the magical arts and was on the path to become a City Guard like so much of the rest of her family. A run in with Faris changed all of that though. Her first mission as a guard had been to route out a Qabal cell so the Khadi could come in and smash it. A job she had been assured was simple, but was in reality sacrificial. The Qabalists did not kill her though. They captured her and began the long process of turning her against the Khadi.
Khalida turned into one of the Qabal’s greatest assets as she began to climb through the ranks of the City Guard until she was high enough in rank to know the locations of some of the Khadi. It was her information that led to many of the Heartless’s deaths after the Awakening. Shortly after Faris joined the Masters of the Seal, she was inducted as well and rumor has it that she continues to work as his wetworks person in Qabal matters.
Master
Hani al-Hazaad is the most recent addition to the Masters of the Seal. A prodigy of sorts, Hadi joined the Qabal twenty years ago and despite some lingering worries that she has more loyalty to her Dahabi house than the Qabal, she has managed to climb the ranks of the Qabal quickly. Eventually achieving the rank of Master. She has managed to convince everyone that she is on their side and has managed to make a tidy profit for herself by playing both sides against each other in attempts to get her to back them. Over the last ten years, if anything has become apparent about her, it’s that Hani’s primary concern is for herself.
Her vote on the Masters was simple for her, Hani recognized that the times were changing and without Faris there was little reason for her to continue her support of the Traditionalists, for now. Quietly, she supports Amru’s attempts to find a Progressive Qabalist, figuring that with that the balance will be maintained, and she can make a pretty profit off of both sides trying to convince her to back their motions.
History
PastIt is difficult to believe sometimes that just 50 years ago, the Qabal were on the verge of extinction. Outlawed by the repressive Caliph after their aborted rebellion the Qabal hung on to the edge of society. Hidden by those who loved them or hated the Caliph they fought a shadow war for nearly 300 years. Hundreds fell, and hundreds more took their place in the fight. The Masters of the Seal, a group meant to create a redundant leadership role and reduce the risk of one member being mind-controlled and destroying the Qabal from the inside was founded. Hekau, the Senpet born leader of the Qabal during this time had been a powerful and wise sahir who did a great deal strengthen the Qabal and prepare it for the trials ahead. During the Awakening the Qabal brought what power they still had to bear against the legions of the Jinn Lord Kaleel. Many of their greatest were lost in the fighting however. Some, during the Awakening itself, erupted into their true Jinn forms. Others were lost in the fighting or ascended into the heavens to battle Khayel itself and were never heard from again.
After the dust had settled, the Qabal found it’s efforts well rewarded. The new Caliph rescinded the ban on magical practice and the Qabal came out of hiding to find dozens of willing students at their doorstep. After centuries in the shadows however, the light was painful to the Qabal and their initial paranoia threatened to scare many away. Thankfully the efforts of Zahir al-Kufa, the Head of the Qabal at that time turned matters around quickly and opened their doors to any new student. This move angered many of the Masters of the Seal, which had six members at the time but they lacked the numbers necessary to overthrow Zahir. Two of them supported his move and stopped the others from acting. Zahir considered the matter settled, but many of the Masters did not. A decade later one of those who supported Zahir found his end at an Assassin’s blade and the Masters had the numbers necessary to overthrow Zahir.
The dismissal of Zahir was met with outrage by the many new students of the Qabal, and celebrations by many of it’s older membership. The Masters expected to bring one of their own number into the position of master but were thwarted by something that none of them had expected. Amru al-Zaqra, the adopted child of Hekau, had grown older, wiser, and much more powerful. She was young and had new ideas which was enough to bring her a great deal of support from the younger Qabalists and the Old Guard remembered her father fondly and refused to challenge her when she made her claim for leadership.
Present
Amru faced little competition gaining control of the Qabal, but she faced fierce opposition as soon as she was in power. The Masters of the Seal turned on her as she continued the policies of Zahir. Zahir himself however had rejoined the Masters and managed to thwart any attempts to overthrow her by doing so. Conflict between Zahir and Jalila, and Faris, Khalida, and Nazih was a fairly common occurrence. Ten years ago the Masters of the Seal shifted again as a new master, Hani, was added to the collective and Nazih, already an ancient man, retired. The loss of Nazih and Hani’s relative moderate stance on matters left the Masters divided and allowed Amru to do what she felt needed to be done. Several new measures were passed which opened the Qabal to new membership and forced Magi to begin giving lectures to new students in the House of Astronomy.
A sense of imminent climax began to filter through the Qabal as the older generation began to grow more and more fearful as the majority of their students did not have the same ideas and worries that they did not go about things with the same caution that they did. Further trouble started to brew as rumors of plans to revise the council came out. Amru, for her part, did little to hide her plans to stabilize the Masters with five permanent positions, to keep current members from holding back on new applicants, and a more concrete definition of the powers of the Masters of the Seal. The traditionalist masters were outraged by what they felt was a betrayal of 300 years of tradition at the erosion of their power base. The Progressivists on the other hands supported the move and Hani was left as the deciding vote. The stalemate continued for a full year before it was broken.
In the middle of the night when assassins attacked Zahir and Jalila in their homes. Zahir managed to kill his assailant, sinking into the ground while he struggled with his assailant. A few minutes later, only Zahir came back up. Jalila was not as lucky. Zahir raged and fumed and claimed that the Traditionalists had tried to win the votes they needed through assassination. The Traditionalists, appalled by this accusation, replied that Zahir was a madman who saw plots in every corner. Still, the death of Jalila was enough and talk of revising the Masters was put off once again.
Tensions within the Qabal have quieted down at least some in more recent months. Amru’s stepping in against Zahir and Faris made her few friends among the masters, but it helped to ease tensions, at least in the immediate future. Unknown to most, it was the Qabal that collected the Manuscript and has been spending quite a bit of time studying the information within, discovering several lost caches of not only gold and jewels but of information and artifacts which the Qabal are even now secretly beginning to excavate. It will be years perhaps until any significant gains are made from the digs, but already one project got enough interest from Faris to have him leave the city, heading into the Western Wastes to personally lead a dig. His leaving the city shifted the Masters of the Seal enough to finally set a limit on how many Masters there would be and what their political power was, which makes many wonder what was so important out in the desert for him to investigate.
Future
The search for a new Master to fill out the ranks has begun, but was delayed by the bloodshed seen in the city. Several names have come to the forefront, but none have been voted on yet by the remaining members of the Masters, though with more Progressivists in the council than Traditionalists, it is not hard to see where the next Master’s loyalties will lie. More curious however is Faris’ trip out to the Western Wastes, and why he felt it was necessary to rip several of the pages out of the Manuscript to take with him.
Leaders
Head QabalistAmru is not the young woman she used to be, though she is younger than all of those in the Masters by far. In her fifties now, Amru has continued to show an amazing talent for the arts of a Sahir. She has dedicated herself to magic, and can often be found in the School of Astronomy, doing research. She has already taken Hakim’s Seal in directions that no one has since the Awakening and there are whispers that though she does her best to hide it, she could defeat any of the Masters in a duel, though she has yet to be allowed to join their esteemed numbers.
Amru does not seem to upset by the matter, though the steady internal conflict has begun to strain her composure. In the face of the mounting resistance, her temper has begun to get shorter and shorter. Her victory of finally putting some limitations on the Masters has eased her temper somewhat, though, and Faris’ leaving the city has proven to be a most unexpected boon for the woman.
Now Amru’s most pressing matter is finding a new Master to fill in the fifth spot. She, obviously, wants to find a fifth who will back her progressives, though she faces resistance from Master Khalida, she believes she can easily overcome such trifles.
Masters of the Seal
Master
Faris ibn Irfan is a self made man. His father was a merchant of little consequence, not even worth bringing into the Dahabi fold. In the streets, he learned how to be sneaky, he learned how to be cautious, and he learned how to make threats disappear. When he was fourteen he was discovered by the underground Qabalist movement where he showed an aptitude for working Hakhim’s Seal. Faris quickly worked his way up the ranks and eventually joined the Masters of the Seal.
The undisputed head of the Traditionalist faction, Faris has preached caution and exact planning, as opposed to what he feels is the off-the-cuff improvisation that Progressivists prefer. Faris has always done what he thought was necessary to keep the Qabal safe, even if that meant being rather underhanded to protect it from itself. Still, Faris is becoming an ancient man now and his memory and wit is not what it used to be. He has refused to retire from his position though, terrified at what may become of the Qabal if he is no longer there to steer them.
After the Qabal took the Manuscript, Faris took the greatest interest in it, making certain it was locked away from all but the Masters and the Head of the Qabal. He has uncovered many of its secrets, including caches of artifacts that have been lost for centuries. Curiously though, several pages are missing from the manuscript. Pages that Faris claims to know nothing about.
Master
Zahir al-Kufa is an old man who has grown older from his constant struggles against his own faction. Originally from one of the satellite city-states that surround Medinaat al-Salaam. Kufa is one of the larger cities, as it is likewise situated on the Nahr’umar river. For the last forty years Zahir has fought as one of the few Progressivist leaders and it has started to fray on his condition. Since the attempt on his life, Zahir has grown more and more paranoid, seeing knives in every shadow and every cryptic term as a veiled threat to his life. Rumors have it that he maintains half a dozen defensive spells on his person at any given time, and that his home is currently so warded against threats that even his servants can no longer get in.
Zahir’s growing arguments with Faris have come near to the point of blows several times and only the calm council of the rest of the masters and Amru herself have kept the two from duelling over the matter. Few doubt it would end in the death of one, or both, of the Masters. A situation which would no doubt get this disagreement over the future of the Qabal to come to blows.
With his duel cancelled by Amru, Zahir’s paranoia has only gotten worse. Fearing not only the Traditionalists but now even some Progressives, Zahir has drifted away from everyone he once called friend. He feels that Amru betrayed him by stepping in and stopping his duel with a known murderer, he does not trust that Faris spends so much time in the libraries. Nor does he trust any of the other Masters.
Master
Khalida bint Fawzi is in a position that no one would have expected 30 years ago. The daughter in a family that had made a tradition of joining the City Guard, while she had been growing up she had never shown any true interest in the magical arts and was on the path to become a City Guard like so much of the rest of her family. A run in with Faris changed all of that though. Her first mission as a guard had been to route out a Qabal cell so the Khadi could come in and smash it. A job she had been assured was simple, but was in reality sacrificial. The Qabalists did not kill her though. They captured her and began the long process of turning her against the Khadi.
Khalida turned into one of the Qabal’s greatest assets as she began to climb through the ranks of the City Guard until she was high enough in rank to know the locations of some of the Khadi. It was her information that led to many of the Heartless’s deaths after the Awakening. Shortly after Faris joined the Masters of the Seal, she was inducted as well and rumor has it that she continues to work as his wetworks person in Qabal matters.
Master
Hani al-Hazaad is the most recent addition to the Masters of the Seal. A prodigy of sorts, Hadi joined the Qabal twenty years ago and despite some lingering worries that she has more loyalty to her Dahabi house than the Qabal, she has managed to climb the ranks of the Qabal quickly. Eventually achieving the rank of Master. She has managed to convince everyone that she is on their side and has managed to make a tidy profit for herself by playing both sides against each other in attempts to get her to back them. Over the last ten years, if anything has become apparent about her, it’s that Hani’s primary concern is for herself.
Her vote on the Masters was simple for her, Hani recognized that the times were changing and without Faris there was little reason for her to continue her support of the Traditionalists, for now. Quietly, she supports Amru’s attempts to find a Progressive Qabalist, figuring that with that the balance will be maintained, and she can make a pretty profit off of both sides trying to convince her to back their motions.